Category: TRAVEL

Now that you’ve looked at many (but it was so hard to choose) photos of us in all our pink glory, I figured I’d share a little about the rest of our trip. Which basically consisted of checking into The (fancypants) Parker and never leaving…

We took advantage of a midweek special and were given $250/day in food credit to gorge ourselves silly. It was awesome. Another bonus of traveling midweek was that we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Nothing you haven’t seen on the interwebs before, I’m sure. BUT awesome just the same. There really isn’t a corner without something interesting/colorful/swoonworthy or just plain weird in this place.

On Sunday night we enjoyed a pretty epic dinner at Mr. Parker’s. Oysters and wine, more oysters, shortribs, and desserts before tottering back to our room.

And I really can’t say enough good things about these stillwarm donuts at Norma’s in the morning. (well, two more: lemon curd.) Also, breakfast cocktails in to-go cups for some well-lubricated property exploring. Genius.

The aforementioned to-go cocktails.

Our private pool.

Have piñata, will travel. We went with the cheapest room, figuring we wouldn’t be spending that much time in it anyhow, but it was giant, awesome, and extremely well-decorated. Score.

Just a few more pretty corners + a roaring fire, because, you know it rained our last day in Palm Springs. It was delightful, and blissfully cooler than the LA weather we returned to.

And finally, the stuff road trip dreams are made of, this giant dinosaur in the mist.

Somehow we’ve already been married for a year! Despite the fact that it’s been a busy one, it still went by awfully quick…

We headed out to the desert for a few days to eat, drink, float, and well, eat some more. And lucky for us, our fab wedding photographer, Melissa of Marble Rye Photography, was in nearby Joshua Tree, so we were able to meet up for a quick anniversary shoot.

We both wore pink…

And mostly just screwed around. This is Gavin’s favorite picture because of the aforementioned screwing around. But I think it’s his favorite because you can see that his pants are tartan in this one.

Then we headed out to the actual desert for sunset.

And this is my favorite picture. See: aforementioned screwing around.

The sky turned pink…

…And we headed back to our hotel to gorge ourselves enjoy a lovely anniversary dinner.
More on that tomorrow.

Travel and books are two of my favorite things. And books about travel (or food) are even more delicious. Toss in some psychobabble about happiness and I’m one intrigued and dare-I-say happy camper.

And so when I found myself in Metsker’s Maps of Seattle the weekend before flying to Iceland, and happened upon a copy of The Geography of Bliss, I figured it was meant to be. I finished the book before we landed in Reykjavik and it was an enjoyable read with some real anecdotal gems on how people behave in the happiest (Iceland) and least happy (Moldova) places on earth. Oh and it was funny too.

And yep, Iceland consistently ranks as one of the happiest countries on earth (if not the happiest). It’s also cold, dark for much of the year, and its nature, while stunning, is magnificently unrelenting and totally humbling. I loved it.

The country. The book. Travel.

I believe to enjoy travel is to love- to overcome your lack of sleep, to look past all the missing conveniences, and to wholeheartedly embrace the weird and wonderful of wherever you find yourself. Be it Iceland or Idaho.
Nowhere is perfect, but I’ve never been anywhere I didn’t love.

And so while I’m excited (and impatient!) to get started sharing my adventures here on the blog, I’m truthfully a little overwhelmed with where to begin and how to go about it. One long post? Many short posts? Loads of photos? Chronological? Topical? Advice on what to do? How to dress?

Clearly I have lots of questions for myself.
But only three for you.
Will you help a girl out?

What kind of travel writing do you guys most enjoy?
What do you want to see/know about traveling in Iceland?
Are there any travel or nomad blogs you really like the format of?

ps. okay, I guess that’s four questions. 🙂
And thanks! I’m really excited to hear what you guys have to say!